There is currently an effort to utilize electrical circuitry in building structural components and other products in order to generate electricity or provide additional functionality to the components or products.
Circuits utilized for building products or other applications requiring a series of individual circuits to be electrically linked together suffer from the drawback that connections between these circuits typically require wiring and soldering. Individual wiring and/or soldering of the connections between individual circuits increases the amount of time required for installation and does not easily permit the replacement of individual circuits. In addition, wiring or electronic components are undesirably visible or are obstructed by assembly building components themselves. Wiring having reduced thicknesses have the drawback that they are generally fragile and susceptible to damage and/or loss of effectiveness when exposed to conditions typical for building components. Furthermore, wiring having reduced thicknesses typically do not have the ability to conduct the currents necessary for some building product circuit components.
What is needed is a connector that allows the connection of individual circuits, which provides excellent electrical contact, has a reduced thickness to reduce visibility and/or building component obstruction, allows easy connection and/or disconnection of the circuits to decrease the time and complexity required to install, replace and/or repair individual circuits and provides resistance to moisture or other contaminants to which the connector may be exposed.